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sugar dosing or vodka dosing

flipit13

flipit13

Advanced Reefer
Location
ny
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i would run one with phos and one with carbon...... running sugar or vodka changes color and also makes a system alittle less stable if later on your selling corals... if you run a system more natual with time you will have better and more stable corals.... right now i tried a few things like vodka and lost tooooooo much stuff cause my system was toooooo clean to begin with... go figure lost all my cheato, havent cleaned my glass in over 3 weeks and all my test measure fine some above normal like cal and mag alk could be higher but raising it slowly.....

just my 2 cents
rick
 
flipit13

flipit13

Advanced Reefer
Location
ny
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plus i forgot to add i designed my own skimmer... i am now running my skimmer only every 4 hours for 2 hours i was atking out to many nutrients that most of my corals really need and saw my problem trying it now and in 2 days have alreadgy seen a difference
 
ClosetFishGeek

ClosetFishGeek

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Location
Long Island, New York
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Nitrates around 10...That my freind is not all that terrible...how is your phosphate level ?
Vodka dosing worked for me and I used it for over a year and a half until I broke down my tank. I learned a few things a long the way(mistakes and tips ) that I will share with you.

1) Start dosing lower than the the guide....nothing good comes by rushing
2) Keep your dkh lower around 7-8 I did get burned tips on my sps from my initial higher dkh.....said it might happen in the guide(I did not listen)..please be smarter
3) Remember you do not need to use your carbon or gfo.
4) I started dosing with amino acids a couple of weeks after my nitrate and phosphate levels were close to nil....I used zeovit products but any of them will do...just follow the directions. I found that I could half the dose and still maintain the same results. This took me a while to figure out...
5) read this again http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php...:splitspin

Hope this helps you
 
Salty Dog

Salty Dog

Advanced Reefer
Location
North Stamford, Ct
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thanks Closet, I been dosing for 2 months now and nitrates have dropped to 5, all my sps look great but I did notice on my huge slimmer that one tip looked weird. Now I know its a burnt tip. Thanks for the info.

Bill
 
NYreefNoob

NYreefNoob

Skimmer Freak
Location
poughquag, ny
Rating - 99.4%
168   1   0
1) Start dosing lower than the the guide....nothing good comes by rushing
2) Keep your dkh lower around 7-8 I did get burned tips on my sps from my initial higher dkh.....said it might happen in the guide(I did not listen)..please be smarter
3) Remember you do not need to use your carbon or gfo.
4) I started dosing with amino acids a couple of weeks after my nitrate and phosphate levels were close to nil....I used zeovit products but any of them will do...just follow the directions. I found that I could half the dose and still maintain the same results. This took me a while to figure out...
5) read this again
Click to expand...
Couldnt have said it better. ive been doing different systems for over a yr and always go back to vodka, i dont recommend it to people, cause people dont listen most of the time, on intial start up you really need to monitor the tank and levels. as stated once you start this program gfo and carbon are not needed,
 
jackson6745

jackson6745

SPS KILLER
Location
NJ
Rating - 99%
201   2   0
IMO, IME if you dose vodka prepare for "unexplained" coral loss. I see it all too many times on threads on RC, local guys, and myself. I think the old school method is just fine. Way oversized skimmer (actually this is a skimmer that will barely skim your tank but rated 3x over), routine water changes, occasional use of chemical media (gfo, carbon, etc), and mechanical filtration (filter bags, pads, manual tank cleanings).

I am not sure why carbon dosing became so popular. Just take a look at all the awesome local tanks. Guys like Jason from Greenwich aquaria, Reefbum, and Randy form Pratt U...... Old School methods. I guess everyone looks at photos of all the bright pastel colors of carbon dosed tanks in envy???
 
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ClosetFishGeek

ClosetFishGeek

Advanced Reefer
Location
Long Island, New York
Rating - 100%
114   0   0
jackson6745 said:
IMO, IME if you dose vodka prepare for "unexplained" coral loss. I see it all too many times on threads on RC, local guys, and myself. I think the old school method is just fine. Way oversized skimmer (actually this is a skimmer that will barely skim your tank but rated 3x over), routine water changes, occasional use of chemical media (gfo, carbon, etc), and mechanical filtration (filter bags, pads, manual tank cleanings).

I am not sure why carbon dosing became so popular. Just take a look at all the awesome local tanks. Guys like Jason from Greenwich aquaria, Reefbum, and Randy form Pratt U...... Old School methods. I guess everyone looks at photos of all the bright pastel colors of carbon dosed tanks in envy???
Click to expand...


I would assume that one of the reasons why it became popular is becouse it works. It does keep your system at a low nutrient level very easily. However, I encourage people to try and understand the basics of Reef keeping and the husbandry thats involved before venturing off to try more delicate methods. With that said I had very good results from it and the only losses I had where from not following some of the guidlines...:splitspin I also enjoyed the fact that my $4 bottle of gorgi vodka replaced bolth my gfo and carbon for 2 months at a time...:splitspin This in itslef is not a reason to switch to Vodka dosing but if we think of all the different approaches that are tryed in this forever evolving Hobby of ours there is nothing wrong with experimenting. Pdnyc69 wanted to learn about Vodka Dosing....all I was doing was giving him my opinion and experience with it.
 
jackson6745

jackson6745

SPS KILLER
Location
NJ
Rating - 99%
201   2   0
ClosetFishGeek, no need to explain yourself. I agree with your points. I understand techniques are evolving. Don't think of my post as an argument, more of a statement.
IMO I don't think anyone should mess with vodka, zeo, or brightwell unless they have kept a colorful, successful reef..... long term.
 
cali_reef

cali_reef

Fish and Coral Killer
Location
On the waste coast, again.
Rating - 97.3%
36   1   0
pdnyc69 said:
No. My corals are browning.
Click to expand...


This is a picture of my reef tank at its "peak" :lol2: NO3 was always between 20ppm to 40ppm since the tank was set up, depending on how much I fed the system the night before. This picture was taken around 1.5 years after setting up the tank, all SPS corals were grown from 1-2" tall frags.

There are many colors in addition to brown in there. The tank was eventually taken over by hair algae and byrosis algae, I blame that on the $3000 skimmer I put in the system :lol2:.

150fulltank050906.jpg
 
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